compound in a neighborhood of the city now called tlajinga. the evidence showed people had lived in the compound for close to 500 years. underneath the central altar, archaeologists discovered several skeletons, buried decades apart. storey: when we excavated under the central courtyards of tlajinga, we found a series of human burials. now, tlajinga was actually a rather modest compound, probably with people we would think of as relatively poor, in the whole city. and yet the most elaborate offerings that were found with anybody were with these individuals. this person here was buried with an awful lot of marine shell, including a beautiful headdress made out of very elaborate rattlesnake pattern. keach: marine shell was an expensive item for the ancient residents because it had to be imported. it took days of travel on foot to bring goods like these from the coast to the city. this means that all through the history of the tlajinga compound, individuals -- important individuals -- were buried with a lot of ceremony and a lot of elaborate offerings under the altar. it was quite clear th